Results tagged “contemporaryart”

What's new and/or interesting in Philly theaters this weekend.

Fun around town, for $10 or less:

To say we like puppets is probably an understatement. What’s there not to like about talking pieces of wood? Or, for that matter, watching humans channel their emotions and desires through a manipulate-able avatar? Twilight Zone aside, it sounds like a surefire recipe for fun.

Fun around town, for $10 or less:

This Wednesday The Institute of Contemporary Art hosts A Midsummer Night's Screening, two presentations that are connected to the current exhibition "karen kilimnik." The first presentation, which begins at 7:30 and will loop throughout the evening, is an episode of the classic TV show The Avengers entitled "A Touch of Brimstone." Detailing the exploits of the Hellfire Club, it was banned from American TV due to a little number Emma wears as "The Queen of Sin," which is worth the price of admission if you ask us. The episode was the inspiration for a piece in the exhibit, Kilimnik's The Hellfire Club episode of the Avengers (1989). Yup, that would be the one.

Museums are cool, but they're even cooler when you can get into them for free. And that's what's happening on Museum Day, which is this Saturday, September 30th. Museum Day was started by the Smithsonian Institution, and used to be for subscribers to their magazine only, but its now open to the general public and celebrated by museums across the country, including many in the local area, like the African American Museum in Philadelphia, the Civil War and Underground Railroad Museum of Philadelphia, the Institute of Contemporary Art, and the Franklin Institute (you can get the full list of participating museums in your area here). To get free general admission for you and a friend to one of these museums on September 30th, all you have to do is print off this Museum Day card and bring it with you. You'll have to print out one card per museum that the two of you want to go to, but that seems like a small price to pay for free admission.

Phillyist suggests you take Wednesday off (or at least leave work/school early) and head over to the Institute of Contemporary Art in West Philly - preferably via bike, jet-pack, or Aston Martin - because the ICA is screening a James Bond Movie Marathon from noon to midnight. They claim this has something to do with their current exhibition - Rodney Graham: A Little Thought. But figuring out the connection between Bond and Graham is a little tricky. Graham is a Canadian artist who's best known for his upside-down pictures of trees (see above), as well as his odd films, like the one in which he had himself recorded biking through a German park on acid. James Bond is, well, James Bond - invincible super-spy and irresistible sex symbol. So...they're both in movies. And they're both kind of...trippy?

You may not know the name Jenny Holzer, but you've probably seen at least one of the products of her enormously influential body of work. For almost thirty years, she has explored the expressive potential of public text. On Wednesday, November 16, the artist offered a retrospective of her work and insight on her creative process to a packed house at the Institute of Contemporary Art on the University of Pennsylvania campus. Part aphoristic philosopher and part conceptual installation artist, Holzer and her contemporary Barbara Kruger, with their emphasis on the word and on the ambiguities of received wisdom, have likely been among the most influential artists of the last quarter-century.